Kids’ Party Planning List – FREE Printables!

Planning a children’s party is supposed to be fun but it can often be stressful. Today we are sharing a free printable to help you plan an easy and fun kid’s birthday party. These printables will help you plan your party quickly and efficiently. Using this handy, free tool, you are able to save money and organize your event. If you are not naturally organized, this may help by telling you exactly what you need for the party before you even think about it yourself. From balloons to party favors to invitations, this high resolution printable is sure to make it the best birthday ever for your kiddo!

The Mother of All Kids’ Party Planning Lists!

*My friend Erika is here today to share her amazing Kids’ Party Planning Lists! We have made this into a free printable for all to share! In this post you will see all the instructions as well as each printable – at the end of the article you will see where you can click to download and print the full set of party planning printables! Totally free – isn’t that nice of her? We will totally be using these in our birthday parties to come!*

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I’ve been to many parties where the host suddenly gasps five minutes before the party is supposed to end and runs to the refrigeration because she forgot a menu item. I’ve stayed to help moms clean up after parties and hear them sigh because they forgot to conduct a game during the party. I always feel bad for them because I’ve been in that position, too.

Some people think that planning a party is a complete drag and they slap together a party at the last minute. Granted, the party is always a good time and the kids don’t care as long as there is cake and ice cream. I don’t judge.

But I’ve been hearing more sighs and groans from overworked and stressed-out mamas lately. I hear you. For lots of people, planning a party is not fun. It’s just another task among the millions of other tasks that Mom must complete every day.

I am a firm believer in organization. I believe that if you’re organized, it makes your life easier. It makes party planning easier, and you are less likely to forget anything. Organization is one of my strong suits, and I hope you can benefit from it.

After researching all the cutesy party planning checklists and planners on Pinterest, I couldn’t find one that really suited me. They had checklists that were too short, or they didn’t have all the categories I wanted, or they didn’t have enough room for everything I wanted to write down, or they used too much of my color printer ink. Most of them are PDFs or other non-changeable formats so I couldn’t take a template and conform it to my needs. I get it. I respect other peoples’ intellectual property and understand their desire to keep the integrity of their work.

So, I created my own! I have included it here in a Word format, so you can change it to your needs. It’s not fancy or colorful, but it’s useful.

It’s also eight pages long. Don’t despair! It’s just really, really COMPLETE and I the tables have lots of room for you. I hope it will lead you along every step of the way to your party.

This was created on Word and I used the “table” feature. I used an open box for the bullet points because I like to check off tasks as I do them.

Page one has all the essentials and details that you need to decide upon first. The theme is the main idea of the party; for example, my son wants an Avengers themed party this year. I recommend three to five main colors for the party to create a cohesive theme. This year, we have three main colors (red, yellow, blue), and are supplementing them with the other colors that represent all six of the main Avengers (red, yellow, white, blue, green, purple, black). I added tasks for the invitations and thank you notes, but you can definitely delete them and create your own.

Page two is the guest list. I often have parents ask if their older or younger child can come to the party too, and I just can’t say no. So I developed a two-sided guest list: the left side is for the children my son wants to invite, and the right side is for siblings and parents who want to stay for the party. Separating them out helps me to see how many actual favor bags, crafts, and activities to create. It also helps me figure out the menu for adults and children, because oftentimes adults want to eat more than just snacks and drink out of juice boxes.

Yes, the guest list is long because my son always wants to invite 500 of his closes friends, and again, I just can’t say no. The more the merrier! Also, we inevitably have people who can’t come, or back out at the last minute.

I’ve also created check-off boxes to help you keep track of who has been invited, who is coming, who is not, who has not RSVPed and who has been sent a thank-you note. The box on the left can be checked off when you send out the invitation. The boxes on the right can be checked off when people reply, and when you have sent out a thank-you (TY) note.

Page three is the menu list. On the left side of the table, I’ve broken the menu down into one main dish, three sides, three snacks, two drinks, and cake. Of course, this is all completely changeable. On the right is a checklist of needed ingredients to create the menu item, the needed supplies such as platters or bowls or serving utensils, and what you need to do to complete the menu item and serve it. You can add more checklist items to the right side. My list generally runs two pages because I like to break it all down to small tasks and then feel accomplished when I check off every little task.

Page four is a checklist for party games and/or activities. Usually my “to do” list runs to two pages because I am a crazy-list-lady. You can add more checklist items at will. You will also find a list for party favors.

Page five is a checklist for party decorations. Remember, lots of party game preparation can also double as party decorations. For example, for the Avengers party, we will play “pin the star on Captain America’s shield,” so the shield poster and the stars can serve as part of the decoration.

Page six is a list for items to buy for the party. I separated it out into food and non-food items because I often have to go to different stores for food and non-food items. I have added some non-food items that people generally need and/or forget. You can add and delete items to fit your needs.

Page seven is the checklist of tasks to complete on the day of the party. I’ve added some common tasks, but you can modify the checklist to fit your needs.

Page eight is the party planning timeline. I generally dislike timelines because I can never stick to them, but I know that they are useful for other people. But you can modify this timeline to fit your needs.

Thank you so much to Erika for sharing this super easy to use Kid’s Party Planning Printable! Below you can click to download the entire 8 pages as a pdf – save to print for a later time. Be a good friend and this kids party planning list free printables with anyone you know that is planning a party!

Wow! This is seriously AMAZING! I’m a first time mom and I have no idea how to plan a party on my own and this is such a great guide. It literally takes you step by step on what is needed to plan and that’s perfect for a newbie like me. Thank you!